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1 – 10 of over 1000Marios Koukounaras-Liagkis, Evdokia Karavas and Manolis Papaioannou
This paper presents the results of empirical research on the effects of teaching practice on student teachers’ teaching competence and psycho-emotional development using the “most…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents the results of empirical research on the effects of teaching practice on student teachers’ teaching competence and psycho-emotional development using the “most significant change” narrative investigative technique.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a qualitative research approach, the study was conducted during the academic year 2021–2022 in two phases (January and May) with the participation of 73 student teachers of the Department of Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) during their mentored teaching practice. Student teachers’ narratives were collected and analysed using the most significant change technique (Davies and Dart, 2005). Content analysis was conducted with the contribution of seven independent judges.
Findings
The results indicate that the Teaching Practice course with the guidance of mentors has a direct and positive effect on student teachers’ teaching competence. Mentors also seem to have a positive effect on student teachers’ psycho-emotional development. The research also confirms the reliability of the most significant change narrative technique for investigating the effect of related educational interventions.
Originality/value
The study empirically validates the usefulness and potential of the investigative narrative most significant change technique for evaluating the effects of teaching practice on student teachers’ professional development with the guidance of experienced mentor teachers. The results of the study also have implications for the design and evaluation of teacher practice programmes.
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Ayubu Ismail Ngao and Guoyuan Sang
Despite the positive impact of professional learning communities (PLCs) in improving teaching practices, many teachers still struggle to effectively integrate information and…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the positive impact of professional learning communities (PLCs) in improving teaching practices, many teachers still struggle to effectively integrate information and communication technologies (ICTs) into their teaching and learning. Drawing from human capital theory and spillover effects, this paper examines how teachers PLCs can facilitate ICT integration.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative methodology, the researchers designed a phenomenological study. From semi-structured interviews, data were collected from 15 selected secondary school teachers from four selected secondary schools in Tanzania.
Findings
The study revealed that teachers use various strategies to enhance ICT integration in teaching practices, namely, community collaboration, practice-based approaches to ICT integration and the utilization of digital learning tools in instructional practices. Furthermore, the results showed several constraints on the ability of teachers’ PLCs to encourage ICT integration. These constraints were divided into three parts, i.e. major challenges at the macro, meso and micro levels.
Practical implications
The paper has the potential to inform policy and practice, particularly in the area of PLCs. Also, it helps to better understand the changing practices with ICTs through PLCs when there are insufficient resources for ICT integration.
Originality/value
To support teachers in using ICTs in their instructional practices, it is essential to build their capacities through PLCs to increase their confidence and competence in ICT integration.
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Dongmin Zhang, Zihui Fang and Min Liao
Educational accountability and student achievement polarization, which result in high dropout rates, pose significant challenges and pressures on teachers' pedagogical leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
Educational accountability and student achievement polarization, which result in high dropout rates, pose significant challenges and pressures on teachers' pedagogical leadership. Whether pedagogical leadership, which originates in the Western educational environment, can significantly improve student achievement in Chinese high schools remains unclear. This concept has not yet been fully explored in the Chinese educational environment, and its direct impact on student achievement and the mediating role of English teaching methods remain to be investigated. However, existing research has concentrated on the effectiveness of principals' pedagogical leadership, with variations in teachers' pedagogical leadership practices. Many reform measures have been implemented in China to improve student achievement, but past educational practices have analyzed the impact on student achievement from a single instructional leadership, school capital or teaching method perspective. Furthermore, there is a lack of multidimensional and systematic assessments of the direct effects of teacher pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effects of English teaching methods.
Design/methodology/approach
To address this gap, this study analyzed the impact of teachers' pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effect of English teaching methods with the support of the theory of action for teacher leadership, specifically using pedagogical leadership and English teaching methods models.This study conducted a questionnaire survey of 968 participants in Taian City, China, and quantitatively analyzed the data using SmartPLS structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
This study revealed that pedagogical leadership has a positive direct effect on student achievement. Meanwhile, among the four mediating factors, the Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Method and Communicative Language Teaching had significant mediating effects.
Originality/value
This study shows that the effective use of academic and professional capital allocation in pedagogical leadership, combined with effective measures of using multiple effective English teaching methods, helps achieve high-quality student achievement.
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In our societal context, the neoliberal competitive and knowledge-oriented culture still exerts a stranglehold on teachers' sense of professional autonomy giving rise to a deficit…
Abstract
In our societal context, the neoliberal competitive and knowledge-oriented culture still exerts a stranglehold on teachers' sense of professional autonomy giving rise to a deficit image of them as ‘excessively entitled’. The purpose of this chapter is to eschew this deficit view of teachers by bringing their agentive side to the fore. First, it explores the concept of ‘excessive teacher entitlement’ in terms of the prevalent characteristics of the culture of teaching in schools and the nature of authority wielded by teachers in this culture and its negative consequence on student learning using an excerpt from an English as Second Language (ESL) classroom in India where this study is set. This episode helps expose the teacher's unawareness of the gaps between their intention and action, a hallmark of excessive entitlement. Second, it juxtaposes an alternative image of ‘teacher as researcher’ to foreground teachers' ‘transformative activist stance’ which revolves around their ideological becoming in agentively striving to realise their ‘best-loved self’. Framed within Vygotskian Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, the principle of ‘double stimulation’ provides a powerful analytical lens to unpack the complex discursive dynamics of their practice nested within historically developing contradictions. These contradictions work tacitly to drive a wedge between teachers' intentions and action making them feel excessively entitled to passively acquiesce with the existing order of things. This study provides some signposts for teacher education about creating an environment where teachers can reclaim their transformative agency freeing themselves from the ‘excessive entitlement’ that binds their practice to the status quo and diminishes their relationships with students.
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Erin Jade Twyford, Sedzani Musundwa, Farzana Aman Tanima and Sendirella George
The purpose of this paper is to argue for a transformative shift towards an inclusive and socially responsible framework in accounting education. Integrating the United Nations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue for a transformative shift towards an inclusive and socially responsible framework in accounting education. Integrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into accounting curricula can help accountants contribute positively towards the goals’ aim. This represents not merely an educational reform but a call to action to forge a path that empowers accounting students to be technically proficient and socially conscious graduates who act as change agents working towards the public interest.
Design/methodology/approach
This study challenges the technical focus of accounting, conceptualising it as a multidimensional technical, social and moral practice, transcending traditional boundaries to address complex societal issues. This paper is primarily discursive, using autoethnography through presenting vignettes written by four female accounting educators across three geographical regions. These first-person narratives foster a sense of interconnectedness and shared responsibility within the accounting community, reflecting a collective commitment to integrating SDGs into accounting education. By sharing personal experiences, the authors invite readers to engage in reflective pedagogy and contribute to shaping a better world through accounting education.
Findings
The transformative potential of purposefully incorporating SDGs into accounting education is not just a theoretical concept. The vignettes in this study provide concrete evidence of how this integration can shape future accountants into socially conscious professionals driven by ethics, equity and environmental responsibility. Our collective reflection underscores the importance of collaboration and continuous learning in aligning accounting education with the SDGs, offering a hopeful vision for the future of this field.
Originality/value
This study builds on existing literature to encourage communication, curriculum development, collaborative teaching approaches, experiential learning opportunities, ongoing evaluation and community dialogue on reshaping accounting education by giving a rare insight into what and how people teach and from what broader motivations. It offers a practical roadmap for educators to integrate SDGs into their teaching.
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In 2021, Dr Shang-Ying Chen, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at National Sun Yat-sen University, invited me to teach in Taiwan for the 2022 academic year. I taught six 16…
Abstract
In 2021, Dr Shang-Ying Chen, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at National Sun Yat-sen University, invited me to teach in Taiwan for the 2022 academic year. I taught six 16- to 18-week courses, including creativity, marketing, theater management, and research methods, to 100 undergraduate and graduate college students in English.
As a published sociologist and practitioner of accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI), I seek to center ADEI in every aspect of my own life, which includes my teaching. My chapter “Teaching ADEI in Taiwan” is an autoethnographic study, utilizing participant observation in documenting the ways in which inclusive pedagogies of ADEI impact teaching and learning in Taiwan. As a Jewish white English-speaking researcher-teacher, I also interrogate my own racial awareness and the impact it has on my efforts to provide my Taiwanese students with an education that is culturally responsive. 1
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This study aims to present a qualitative analysis of how higher education institutions (HEIs) faculties manage knowledge to facilitate the learning and engagement of individuals…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to present a qualitative analysis of how higher education institutions (HEIs) faculties manage knowledge to facilitate the learning and engagement of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a qualitative research design to collect responses from 39 HEI faculties to understand how they manage knowledge to facilitate learning in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Data collection tools comprised a set of predetermined questions, soliciting written responses.
Findings
Coding of the collected data confirmed that there was a knowledge management process in HEIs for enabling higher education of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A total of six themes emerged, clarifying the knowledge management process. The four components of this process were creation, storage, sharing and use. In addition to the four process-related themes, two other themes that emerged were barriers to knowledge creation and supportive culture. This covers the relevant aspects of the set-up around the knowledge management process in HEIs trying to improve the higher education of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Originality/value
There is a need to improve the education of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which requires effective knowledge management. This paper reveals details of the steps in the knowledge management process relevant to this aim. This is a unique contribution, providing a basis for future research and the introduction of required knowledge management practices by HEIs dedicated to providing high-quality education to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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Nor Sanak Mohd Nabil, Hasniza Nordin and Faizahani Ab Rahman
This study aims to explore how the integration of augmented reality (AR) filters into English as a second language (ESL) can enhance speaking fluency teaching. The study sheds…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how the integration of augmented reality (AR) filters into English as a second language (ESL) can enhance speaking fluency teaching. The study sheds light on how AR filter can be best implemented in speaking fluency teaching by the innovative opportunities to transform language learning experiences. In this study, ESL teachers' perceptions and experiences with AR filters in speaking fluency instructions were examined through qualitative research method.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is an evaluation stage study within a bigger study which utilized design and developmental research (DDR) approach. In this third phase of DDR which is the evaluation phase, this study involved semi-structured interviews with six ESL teachers from six different public secondary school settings. Thematic analysis was conducted on the interview transcripts.
Findings
Data analysis revealed several key findings regarding the utilization of AR filters in ESL speaking fluency teaching. Firstly, participants reported that AR filters can be best used in various educational settings. Secondly, AR filters were found to provide supports for various students’ levels. Thirdly, participants identified that AR filters can be best used to cater students with diverse learning styles.
Research limitations/implications
The work aims to help ESL educators in using AR filters in their speaking fluency teaching. The limitation of this study is that it includes only the experience of teachers from a public secondary school setting without taking into consideration other secondary institutions such as ESL teachers from private schools or boarding schools. The generalizability of our findings may be affected due to our reliance on self-reported data from a small sample size.
Practical implications
The implications of these findings for ESL pedagogy and teacher professional development are discussed. By incorporating AR filters into ESL speaking fluency instruction, educators can create speaking fluency teaching in various settings such as formal and informal settings. Furthermore, ESL teachers may immerse students in environments that cater to the diverse language learners' styles and language levels through the use of AR filter. Overall, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the potential of AR filters to transform ESL teaching and learning practices, paving the way for future innovations in language education.
Originality/value
Available studies exploring AR in English teaching exist, but very limited of those utilized markerless AR, in the form of AR filters with speaking fluency teaching. Also, this paper focused on teachers’ experience with AR filters in contrast to students’ experience in public secondary school settings.
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Josefine Wagner and Nikolett Szelei
The purpose of this study is to highlight a paradox between inclusion/exclusion at the level of the organisation and classroom practices, as well as between general and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to highlight a paradox between inclusion/exclusion at the level of the organisation and classroom practices, as well as between general and disability/special educational needs (SEN)-specific approaches to diversity in the classroom. The authors recommend better alignment between school policies and teaching practices to offer all students an equal chance to benefit from inclusive pedagogies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyses a school that has gained public reputation as an innovative, inclusive school in Austria. Applying a case study with an ethnographic methodological approach, the authors explore what strategies are implemented to become more inclusive at the level of school organisation and classroom practices? What are the pedagogical beliefs and actions relating to diversity that drive inclusive efforts? How is this school's general approach to diversity enacted with students with SEN?
Findings
The findings show that context-specific circumstances shape inclusive school development, which comes with a set of affordances and challenges. The authors argue that in this case, striving for inclusion indicated two ways of “doing difference differently”. First, the school has built on many cornerstones of inclusion when relating and responding to student diversity, that was remarkably different than in other mainstream schools in Austria. On the contrary, while creating new educational and pedagogical norms, it also recycled conventional segregating tendencies, and as such, reproduced hierarchised difference, but in other ways than schools typically do in mainstream schooling.
Originality/value
This school and its pedagogical mission have never been analysed through the rich data that two researchers were able to gather and work through.
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